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The flat is adorned with memorable pictures. One, from 2000, shows Liz the day she received her MBE from the Queen. In another, she jokes with Prince Charles as he visited the Corrie set to mark the soap’s 40th Birthday.

And, of course, there are snaps of beloved co-star Bill Tarmey, who played TV husband Jack Duckworth. Bill died five years ago, aged 71.

But the picture that stands out is a 1960s snap Don keeps close to his armchair.

It shows him and Liz with their young family. He recalls: “We met in a pub in Leeds. I was an electrician and I was with a friend and she was with a friend. My first thoughts, I must be honest, were that I found Liz a wee bit annoying!

Liz with Tony Blair on the cobbles in 1996 (Image: John Gladwin/Sunday Mirror)

“She kept asking daft questions like: ‘What’s the time?’ and ‘Where’s the toilet?’ But I was soon blown away by her. She was gorgeous.”

Liz was estranged from her husband and had a son. Don invited her on a date.

“It wasn’t glamorous,” he laughs. “We went to Scarborough for the day. Graham, her son, was only three. I arrived an hour late. But we had a great day. She was impressed I had a car – a maroon and grey Ford Consul.

“So maybe she thought I was the bee’s knees.”

They returned to ­Scarborough soon after, for a week at a holiday camp. Liz entered a singing contest and won.

Don says: “She brought the house down. My heart was bursting out of my chest.”

The pair were in love and Liz fell pregnant – but there was a problem.

“She was still married,” Don chuckles. “And back then you had to get a judge to give you approval for a divorce. When she was eight months pregnant we got permission and got hitched straight away.

“Liz borrowed a fur coat from a pal to cover her bump, we took a bus with our parents to Leeds Register Office. Then we went for tea in town."

Dawn, the first of their three daughters, was born weeks later and they moved into a council flat. With money tight Don encouraged Liz towards showbiz.

The soap star performed cabaret on the QE2 in 1993 (Image: John Gladwin/Sunday Mirror)

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He goes on: “There was a club in Leeds and I put her down for an audition. Liz could earn more in a night than I could in a week. She didn’t just sing. She’d crack jokes and do her own little sketches.

“I was so proud of her. She was always singing around the house. Her favourite song was You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.”

Word quickly spread about Liz’s talents. She was cast in a play called Kisses At 50, which won a BAFTA.

She then won a part in Z-Cars and a string of theatre roles. But her big break came when she joined Corrie in 1974.

Don says: “It was life-changing. We were so excited and all helped with her lines – me, the children, her sister. When we saw her on telly it felt unreal.”

Liz was quickly spotted by entertainer Larry Grayson. He offered her a chance to ditch Corrie and move to London to star on his variety show.

But she chose to stick to her Northern roots, says Don.

As TV battleaxe Vera she quickly became a national treasure and her double act with hapless Jack never failed to entertain. She starred for 34 years and Corrie dedicated an episode to her when she died.

Don says Liz was a hit because, like Vera, she worked in a factory and a shoe shop and “understood what made those places tick.”

Don with Liz and their children (Image: John Gladwin/Sunday Mirror)

But in the end it was Liz’s past which defined her future. By 2001, a 30-year, 30-a-day smoking addiction and years performing in clubs left her with deadly emphysema.

Five years ago it became so debilitating she started using a wheelchair – much to her frustration.

Don adds: “She enjoyed life and wanted to live it to the full. Even on bad days with her illness she’d smile through the best she could.”

After a string of scares and hospital trips, things rapidly deteriorated early this year.

“She was just sleeping all the time,” Don says. “She’d get up, have breakfast and then go back to bed until 2pm.

“Liz had a pacemaker and tests showed there was a loose wire. They said, ‘If you don’t want to have the op you don’t have to. It’s not important, it just means you will sleep a lot more’. But we decided we wanted to do it.”

Liz had the procedure in the summer. But it led to a leak of blood and fluid which caused levels of carbon dioxide in her blood to soar.

She had a heart attack in September and was too weak to undergo more operations. Doctors discharged her a month ago.

“We knew Liz was coming home to die,” Don says. “But we were all here for her in the final days.

"When she first came home I could talk to her. But, gradually, it just became too hard for her. And she just went downhill. But it was peaceful. She never had any pain. And I was able to sleep by her side in those final nights.”

Her ashes will be buried at a family plot in Manchester. And Don says the huge number of tributes have really touched the family.

He adds: “We couldn’t believe how much coverage there was on the TV. The BBC had a 12-minute piece on the news. Watching it made us all realise the love and affection she was held in. It’s given us tremendous strength.

“We had a wonderful note from Tony Blair . His father-in-law (actor Tony Booth , 85) died on the same day as Liz. Janice Troup, at ITV, has also gone above and beyond.

“Liz’s doctor, Professor Ashley Woodcock, also did so much for her. But Liz would want us to go on. If she were here now she’d say: ‘Brush yourself down and don’t cry’.